The books are a discriminating and representative collection of the literature of fox hunting and related subjects, particularly in England and America. Works from the 15th century are represented by facsimiles and other modern printed versions. There are a number of first editions of notable 16th, 17th and 18th-century books, especially in English.

The verse and fiction of sport are extensively represented, and biographies of dozens of notable figures and histories of scores of individual packs and hunting territories can be found.

Incidental to the collection is the fine collection of illustrated hunting books. It is rich in examples of the work of the major illustrators of the period who helped make, and in turn were made by, the popularity of the sporting book. Especially notable are the works of Henry Alken.

An exhibition dealing in part with hunting was held at the Library in Winter 1979. See the exhibition catalogue: The Gentleman's Recreation: Sporting Books in the Princeton University Library. (Princeton, 1969). [(ExB) 0639.Z39.No. 39].